How have you found your properties? Here is how I found mine.
How have your found your properties? When I originally starting investing I remember hearing a guru say that had 31 ways to find deals. I didn't want 31. I wanted just one that I could do over and over again. I turns out one doesn't cut it.
Some of these properties were flips, some buy and hold.
1. Drive by. The owner hand made sign out front and I stopped. Inner city.
2. Bandit sign. I know the Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner are not fans of bandit signs--and I may discontinue using them--but I posted a bandit sign on a pole right outside a multi-use building and the owner called me. Inner city.
3. Craigslist. Owners listed a duplex on craiglist. Inner city.
4. Craigslist. Absentee owner, inherited, posted an ad on craigslist. I suggested a price over email. He didn't bite until about six months later when it hadn't sold. Suburbs / Rural.
5. Realtor. REO house. B Area, city (better part of city, nice neighborhood). I discovered I didn't have the temperament for inner city.
6. Realtor. REO house. B area, small neighboring city.
7. Contractor. My contractor had a job at this house and told me about it. One of my best deals. A/B Area, suburb. (By A I mean low to medium middle class, nice neighborhood.)
8. Wholesaler. B Area, city.
9. Wholesaler. A/B Area, suburb.
10. Realtor. Short sale. I somtimes send emails to the listing realtors telling them I am a cash buyer and if it wouldn't be a waste of time to make an offer in the X range, I'd like to see the house. A/B Area, suburb.
11. Realtor. I forget how I heard about it. He may have had my contact from an email like that above. It was inherited property. B Area, suburb.
12. Realtor. Same as above. A/B Area, suburb. I lost my shirt on this one due to big problems with the house.
13. Bandit sign. Condo. Relocating. A Area, suburbs.
14. Yellow letter. Short sale. A/B Area, suburb.
15. Online marketing. Inherited property. A/B Area, suburb.
16. I don't remember. Maybe craigslist or bandit sign. Somehow I had contact and the seller called back a couple of times over a couple of years.
17. Wholesaler. A/B Area, city.
18. Online marketing. B Area, city.
19. Online marketing. B area, city.
20. Yellow letter. Short sale. B area, suburb.
21. Yellow letter. Short sale. B area, suburb.
I still feel like a newbie (slow ramp up starting at the end of 2008) and am still trying to figure out my business model.